Do Hearing Aids Really Work?
Hearing aids do not restore normal hearing, but they can restore normal communication, reducing your effort to hear.
A good hearing aid fitting is custom set for you and optimizes speech understanding versus noise. They are comfortable for all day use. Many of our patients wear their hearing aids every day for 14 hours or more. Properly fit hearing aids limit amplification of loud sounds and selectively amplify the sounds you do not hear as well. Hearing aids improve clarity and reduce noise.
Hearing aids also have benefits beyond just improved hearing…
How Hearing Aids Improve Your Life
Growing evidence shows that treating hearing loss can positively impact social, emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being in the following ways:
Less social anxiety
Lower levels of depression
Better personal communication
Improved confidence
Improved over-all physical health when stress & effort is reduced
Fewer falls
Reduced rate of cognitive decline
Seven Considerations Before you Purchase Hearing Aids
Hearing aid technology continues to advance at a pace second only to the technology that fuels modern space exploration. Dramatically increased processing speed enables the audiologist to simultaneously raise the volume for speech and lower the volume for noise, all with no echo. Faster processors make circuit noise inaudible, amplify the telephone, and selectively reduce sound from the sides and behind you. With all the different styles and features of modern hearing aids, how do you select the device that will best accommodate your particular degree of hearing loss? Below are seven factors to consider before you invest in hearing instruments.
Choose the right audiologist for you
Improving your hearing is a journey, not just a pick up a product and go. Click here to read more about working with the right audiologist
Your type and degree of hearing loss
For example, if an individual has a high frequency hearing loss with a normal low frequency response, a hearing aid that permits low frequencies to enter the ear normally while allowing only high frequencies to be amplified would be ideal. This is called selective amplification or an open-canal fitting. However, if the individual with this type of hearing loss chooses a hearing aid that totally plugs the ear canal, the effect is often an artificial sound.
As hearing changes, the hearing aid will need to be re-programmed. It is important to select a model of hearing aid the audiologist can adjust should hearing change. If you select a model that is barely within the fitting range and your hearing drops, you will have to buy a new hearing aid.
Your ability or inability to discern speech in noise
Individuals with normal hearing typically can hear even if the background noise is as loud or slightly louder than the target speech. This is also true if the hearing loss is conductive. For people who have a sensorineural hearing loss, the optimal ratio between the loudness of the speech and the loudness of the background noise changes. It is far more difficult to hear in noise with a sensorineural hearing loss.
A normal ratio is 0-4 dB (speech is as loud or 4 dB louder than the noise). You can hear even at Cracker Barrell!
An abnormal ratio is greater than 4 dB. Unfortunately, the ratio for individuals with sensorineural hearing loss can be greater than 15 dB (meaning, if the speech is 15 dB louder than the noise, you can hear with clarity).
Some people with a sensorineural hearing loss require a ratio of 10 dB , others may need only 6 dB, etc. This should be part of the hearing evalatuion and reviewed prior to selecting hearing aid circuits, since all hearing aid circuits vary in the speech to noise ratio improvement.
The takeaway message is: many hearing aids work okay in quiet rooms but do not effectively improve hearing in noisy rooms. Multi-microphone technology, increased number of channels, very fast processing speed all contribute to improved speech understanding in noise. No matter how skilled the audiologist is in programming the hearing aid, the circuit should be matched to the needs of the user or improved hearing in noise cannot occur.
4. Your lifestyle
Do you have cosmetic concerns about wearing hearing aids? Do you prefer to wear a hearing aid that is barely noticeable or nearly invisible?
Do you attend lectures or public speaking engagements in large environments on a frequent basis? Are you a student or regular church attender?
Are you physically active? Do you work outdoors or like to swim, fish, or kayak?
Do you work in a dusty environment? Are you a craftsmen?
Do you play golf frequently or participate in outdoor activities?
Do you have tinnitus?
5. Any physical limitations
Our goal is for you to be as independent as possible in managing your hearing aids. You will need to choose a device that is easy for to to place on and off of your ears. Do you need a rechargeable device? What style is easiest to clean and maintain?
6. Your connectivity goals
Can hearing aids help you hear on the phone and television? Do you want to be able to use your smart phone as a remote control or a hands-free bluetooth headset? Or would you rather have the hearing aid be as automatic as possible and not connect it to a phone? Do you attend classes, events or meetings where wireless remote microphone technology would be helpful? Do you watch a lot of television programs where a TV streamer would be helpful?
7. Your budget
At Appalachian Audiology we strive to make hearing technology affordable and will do our best to help you no matter which level of technology you can afford. We are also participating in several health insurance hearing aid benefit programs which allow greater access to hearing technology.
A good experience with hearing aids depends on the right combination of a quality product, a skilled professional, and an open-mind as you re-train your brain how to hear.
Each individual’s experience with hearing aids is different. Please explore our website to learn more about what modern hearing aids can do.
